This has been a big summer for Harry Potter fans. The 5th movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix recently came out on July 11, and has thus far amassed $168M at the box office. The much anticipated final Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows comes out tonight.

Part of the ever expanding range of Harry Potter culture are many new rock bands deriving their inspiration and material from this epic series. The genre Wizard Rock was invented 5 years ago by two brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge, of Harry and the Potters, and has continued to grow. Currently wizardrock.org lists over 60 bands with clever amusing names ranging from Draco and the Malfoys to Philosopherock.

The music ranges from the traditional rock sound of Harry and the Potters to the clever lyrics of Draco and the Malfoys to the more pop sound of Philosopherock. Though the primary venue for this brand of rock is libraries, schools, and book stores, and they usually draw younger crowds they know how to rock, putting on a good show for fans of all ages.

These groups also tend to promote reading and playing, and writing music on their websites. One group the HP Alliance is using the Harry Potter craze to combat genocide in Darfur, recently releasing a podcast Becoming Dumbledore's Army: Harry Potter Fans for Darfur aimed at challenging fans to act on the positive messages in the book to fight real world injustice.